ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the case of a technology that was considered by UK policy makers to be proceeding successfully only to fall behind other renewable energy sources in terms of central funding, technical development, and capacity supplied. It evaluates the extent to which wave energy development projects supported by UK policy makers in the 1970s and early 1980s could be characterized as 'inflexible'. The chapter builds on the concept of technological momentum. As time has progressed, and with the change of government in 1997, there seems to have been change of perspective in policy towards renewables. An examination is made of the interplay between the market and political circumstances, the pace and scale of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) activity and the facilitation of opportunities for learning about alternative technological means for exploiting wave energy resources. The chapter presents some theoretical and practical conclusions regarding the implications for the political and organizational management of technology development in emerging industry sectors.
